Why Journal?
Aug. 1st, 2002 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cybermathwitchI just stumbled across an article dealing with how one ought to go about journaling online, and it was disturbing to me for some reason. I think because, at least in the case of my experience, the author has missed the point entirely. So, it made me question why *I'm* doing this.
First and foremost, to keep up with my friends (particularly those online) and let them know how I'm feeling and what's going on. When you see someone off-line day in and day out, or when you happen to talk to someone on IM almost *every* day, like Elyssa and I do, there's a natural flow of being aware of the events in the other person's life, even if you don't sit down and have long conversations about it. Now, it's virtually impossible to keep up with *all* my online friends, even those special few that I'm particularly close to, through IM. I'd never get anything else done on the computer and I would, essentially, be saying the exact same thing over and over and over again. (Ok, yes, I do that in real time, but still.) I'm lucky in that I can call Ann up on the phone, and that I get to talk to Lys as much as I do because she can use her IM at work, but most people just can't be online that much, and certainly don't live in my calling area. So, I journal. My only other option would be to spout all of this off on my email lists, and a. the list-moms would kill me for constantly being off-topic, and b. while I realize anyone could read this, they actually have to make the effort to come here, rather than getting it passively in their email.
Then there's the issue of an "audience". Yes, I'm doing this for other people to read. But I'm not doing it to get "fans", or to entice perfect strangers to come read. I don't care if they do, they're more than welcome to, but this journal's key purpose, and the people that I'm essentially writing *to*, when I write this, are the above mentioned friends of mine that I'm trying to keep in touch with. So, yeah. That's why I journal. And I don't think that just because I'm not trying to be presentable in any certain way means that I'm a waste of digital space.
/rant
First and foremost, to keep up with my friends (particularly those online) and let them know how I'm feeling and what's going on. When you see someone off-line day in and day out, or when you happen to talk to someone on IM almost *every* day, like Elyssa and I do, there's a natural flow of being aware of the events in the other person's life, even if you don't sit down and have long conversations about it. Now, it's virtually impossible to keep up with *all* my online friends, even those special few that I'm particularly close to, through IM. I'd never get anything else done on the computer and I would, essentially, be saying the exact same thing over and over and over again. (Ok, yes, I do that in real time, but still.) I'm lucky in that I can call Ann up on the phone, and that I get to talk to Lys as much as I do because she can use her IM at work, but most people just can't be online that much, and certainly don't live in my calling area. So, I journal. My only other option would be to spout all of this off on my email lists, and a. the list-moms would kill me for constantly being off-topic, and b. while I realize anyone could read this, they actually have to make the effort to come here, rather than getting it passively in their email.
Then there's the issue of an "audience". Yes, I'm doing this for other people to read. But I'm not doing it to get "fans", or to entice perfect strangers to come read. I don't care if they do, they're more than welcome to, but this journal's key purpose, and the people that I'm essentially writing *to*, when I write this, are the above mentioned friends of mine that I'm trying to keep in touch with. So, yeah. That's why I journal. And I don't think that just because I'm not trying to be presentable in any certain way means that I'm a waste of digital space.
/rant
